Putting Americans in space: Mercury and Gemini
The Mercury and Gemini missions put the first Americans in space
and provided crucial experience which enabled the lunar expeditions.
 |
The launch of Mercury Friendship 7,
carrying John Glenn into space. |
|
Project Mercury
Begun in 1958 and completed in 1963, Project Mercury was the United States' first major program to establish a human presence in space. The objectives of the program, which made six human flights from 1961 to 1963, were:
- To successfully orbit a manned spacecraft around Earth.
- To investigate humankinds' ability to function in space.
- To recover both occupant and spacecraft.
Each Mercury spacecraft carried on astronaut. There were seven Mercury astronauts, all military test pilots. Six of them (Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Gordon Cooper, and Wally Schirra) flew aboard the Mercury spacecraft. The seventh, Deke Slayton, was grounded due to a minor medical ailment but eventually flew as a crewman aboard the Apollo-Soyuz Test Flight in 1975.
|
| |
 |
Astronaut Ed White makes the first spacewalk from the Gemini 4 spacecraft. |
|
Project Gemini
Project Gemini (named for the crew of two astronauts flying aboard each Gemini spacecraft) was the second human spaceflight program initiated by the United States.
Operating between Mercury and Apollo, Project Gemini consisted of 10 successful flights in 1965 and 1966.
It provided crucial experience by developing and testing the techniques for advanced space travel and long-duration space operations necessary to land humans on the Moon. Gemini missions involved the first American extravehicular activity and new orbital maneuvers including rendezvous and docking.
|
 |
Gemini 7 photographed by Gemini 6 after a successful rendezvous. |
|
Gemini Program Objectives
- Subject astronauts to long duration flights.
- Perfect methods of reentry and landing the spacecraft.
- Gain information concerning the effects of weightlessness on astronauts during long flights.
|
|
Click on the poster image to download the PDF version of this page. (Credits to Images are given in the poster)
|
